While yesterday marked the second anniversary of the end of his 2012 hunger strike and 21 days since the beginning of his second, environmental activist Dr Wayne Kublalsingh said there would be “no retreat” by the Highway Re-route Movement (HRM). His remark came hours after his sister Judy, in a television interview, revealed that his family had asked him to call off the strike.
Kublalsingh’s spirits were high yesterday as he spoke to the media on the HRM’s efforts to meet with Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar on an alternative route for the Debe to Mon Desir section of the $7 billion Solomon Hochoy Highway extension. He said he didn’t really care about the ambulance or drips and that he just needed to continue fighting the fight.
“We can’t back back because in important times in our history we have backed back, we have just retreated and it is not a time for retreat. It is time for going forward,” Kublalsingh said. He said he felt much better yesterday, had a clear mind about what needed to be done and was more positive about the idea of victory, adding the victory would be for the people and the Government.
Kublalsingh said in 2012 his first hunger strike ended with a minor victory when the People’s Partnership Government agreed to the appointment of the Armstrong Committee to review the highway proposal. “Now, we have nothing. We have two documents before the Prime Minister, which are the Armstrong report and the Optimum Connectivity Plan. So far we have, in terms of diplomacy, achieved nothing,” he said.
But he said he felt great that the HRM had the support of many of the churches in the country as well as individuals, like veteran masman Peter Minshall. “We have people in civil society and ordinary people standing up for us. I feel confident that some sort of mediation must occur. “People are understanding our cause more and I think the ground is shifting under the Government and now is the time for them to move on this matter,” he added.
Kublalsingh said his hunger strike was no longer just about the highway but about democratising the country. “If we go to court and we win that won’t solve the issue. If the Government wins that would not solve the issue,” he noted. Kublalsingh said the issue could only be solved through an exchange between a people and its government.
“I am prepared for everything at this time. It is going to be a rough ride from this point but I am prepared for it mentally and physically and committed to it spiritually and we will face whatever consequences that we have to,” Kublalsingh said.
Church heads appeal again
The head of the Anglican Church in T&T Bishop Clyde Berkeley and Roman Catholic Archbishop Joseph Harris yesterday again united in a call for mediation in the ongoing dispute between the HRM and the Government. In a joint statement yesterday, they proposed an urgent process of mediation and said they had identified two eminently qualified and respectable citizens who were willing to facilitate the process for the greater good of all.
They said: “As we urged in our first statement, we invite both sides in this conflict to take two steps towards each other by entering the open door to this mediation process. The mediation process can be started immediately, once both agree. “Come, let us reason together. The call to prayer remains in effect, as we seek God's good and gracious will for us all as a nation. May God bless our nation.”
The church leaders said as the hunger strike “waged war” on the Kublalsingh’s body, the anxiety levels and causes for concern rose across the nation. “The various media reports indicate mixed views but the tone reflects a wounded Trini spirit, hopefully not fatally. “As we continue to appeal on humanitarian grounds for a meeting of minds on the issues, which now command international attention, we appeal to that which is noble, sensitive and powerful among us,” they said.
...Minshall moved to draw
Masman Peter Minshall sent this drawing of Highway Re-route Movement protester Dr Wayne Kublalsingh to the media, accompanied by an explanation. The drawing is entitled: An Encircling of Vultures in Feathers and Beads. Minshall wrote: “This is an allegory. It alludes to things and places and states of mind and being without attempting to making forthright statements or draw definitive conclusions. Predator lies with victim.
”They nest together. The flesh of each is the other. With marks made by the tip of a pencil on paper to create a picture, a single embroidery emerges, a tapestry of life, love, greed, power, death and resurrection. “This is not a cartoon. It is a serious contemplation on the most tragic of times in our island history. It is not by chance played out as a Carnival of feathers and beads.
“Everything island is so ephemeral. But the dark stain and stench of these days of dread and treachery will last well beyond the lives of those who now experience them. The heroes and villains of these events will become legendary.”
Addressing the editors of the daily newspapers, Minshall went on: “I ask you to print this allegory full size, as presented, with all its secrets and mysteries, so that our people may at least bear witness, consciously, even as our angels dance with our demons before our very eyes.”